Arturo "Thunder" Gatti retained the WBC Super Lightweight bauble after dropping Leo "The Lion" Dorin with a wicked left hook to the solar plexus that closed the show at 2:55 seconds of stanza two. No sooner seeing the Gatti hook score and Dorin falling, it was flashback time for this viewer to the year 1946 and a Tony Zale round six KO of Rocky Graziano - the first time a then 16 year old heard the word solar plexus. Unlike most hooks that rattle the rib cage the solar plexus is more debilitating in that it is a network of nerves that belongs to the sympathetic nervous system. And with the short work over HBO, and a packed crowd at that fabled Boardwalk at Atlantic City, the Gatti stock has once again soared … but buyer beware. To recap, it was Gatti boxing nicely over the opening 3-minutes with a somewhat tentative Dorin in careful pursuit. Good round Gatti. Round two begins with a more typical Gatti firing the heavy artillery and Dorin, a lighter puncher, meeting the challenge … nice give and take exchanges until the big Gatti left hook that dropped the curtain. Post Scripts: Gatti ~ has used the boxing skills more since signing on Buddy McGirt as trainer … Arturo listens when Buddy speaks … problem now is when the other corner spawns a quality foe. Gatti will always give his all but at age 32 and many wars, trouble now looms on the fistic horizon.                       Dorin ~ Unfortunate the Gatti hook found the nerve center with such force. Still, a walk in style and lacking clout, the big hook may well have been a blessing in disguise.                     Ref. Randy Neuman ~ not always my favorite ref but not for the usual reasons. Randy rarely interferes and lets them do battle … refreshing change to say the least. GEL     7-24-2004   Brought to you by Saratogamist copyright 2001-2004